Charlotte's Web
by Lizwontcry
Summary: Charlotte Grissom finally gets to trick or treat for the first time, while her proud parents think back to how it all started. Written for Geekfiction Food Fight Ficathon.


**A/N - I don't write a lot of geek!baby fics, so this is a little out of my comfort zone. But my coworker suggested I write a Halloween story and this came to be in a burst of inspiration. The same coworker also suggested that I be Axl Rose for Halloween. This coworker should get cookies for her awesome genius.**

Anyway, thanks for reading and enjoy! Feedback is lovely.

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It was Halloween night in Las Vegas, and a very excitable little girl was having quite a hard time staying still. Her doting parents exchanged looks of exasperation mixed with pure happiness, emotions that were frequently had in the Grissom household.

"Daddy, is it time yet?!" Charlotte Grissom asked, bouncing up and down happily. "I want to go trick or treating! I want to go now, Mommy!"

Sara and Gil couldn't help but laugh. Charlotte had never been trick or treating before, but she'd heard all about it from all her friends. As scientists, her parents both found her never-ending curiosities about life to be fascinating. Well, mostly fascinating but also exhausting.

"Do you have your pail?" Sara asked her daughter.

"Yep, right here!" Charlotte proudly produced her pumpkin pail, big enough to collect all the candy she could possibly need.

"How's your costume? Does it fit? Is it warm enough?" Gil asked.

Charlotte was a ladybug. This was obviously her father's idea, although her mother found it to be completely adorable.

"Yes, Daddy, it's fine!"

"Now what do you say after someone gives you candy?"

"Thank you!"

"And what do you not do when you trick or treat?"

"Run from house to house without any manners like I'm on my own playground!" Charlotte said. Gil laughed at Sara's instructions coming out of a 4-year-old. He was always amazed at how similar his wife and daughter were. Charlotte was intelligent, strong, funny, and stubborn to an extreme. The funny thing was, before he and Sara got married, he wasn't even sure he wanted kids. It was so cliché, but now he wasn't sure how he ever lived without Charlotte. She added a brand new perspective to his life; like the piece of the puzzle he never knew was missing.

Sara laughed and said, "Looks like you're ready. You're going to have to ask Uncle Greg first, though. Go see if he's ready."

Charlotte grinned and bounded away, her black curls bouncing with every step. "Uncle Greg, I'm ready!"

The Grissoms were staying at their old friend Greg's house for the week. Every couple of months, Sara and Gil traveled with Charlotte from their home in Lake Tahoe back to Vegas so Charlotte could be around all her doting uncles--Jim, Nick and Greg--as well as Aunt Catherine. Before they moved to Lake Tahoe, they discussed moving somewhere far away; maybe as far from Vegas as one could possibly get. Both Sara and Gil were in darker places in their heads at that point and wanted to leave their dismal lives behind. It was Conrad Ecklie, of all people, who convinced Gil to stay somewhat close by (within 500 miles, at least) in case the lab may need his entomology expertise. Sara was still living in San Francisco at the time but agreed that Lake Tahoe was a good compromise for both of them. Grissom would have gone anywhere she was, though, within a 500 mile radius or not.

Charlotte ran back into the kitchen with Greg in tow. Grissom and Sara were sharing a piece of Chocolate French silk pie they picked up from a diner down the street. Sara wasn't sure why, but being in Vegas always made her hungrier than usual. She blamed it on the bad memories and the heat.

"Okay, okay, I'm ready, Char," Greg said as she pulled on his arm. "I'm ready. Did you eat that Kiwifruit that I put in your lunch at school today?"

Char made a face.

"I took a bite of it, Uncle Greg," she said very seriously. "But I had to spit it out. It was yucky. I liked the apple cake a lot better!"

Greg took his role of uncle seriously, and was constantly trying to teach new things to Charlotte. His main objective was to get her to appreciate different countries and their cultures, and he thought the best way to do this was through food. Charlotte did not have a problem with this. So far, much to Greg's happiness, her favorite was the apple cake from Norway. Papa Olaf would have been so proud.

"Okay, but I hope that this made you appreciate the fine country of New Zealand a little more," Greg said. Sara snickered.

"Mommy, Daddy, are you coming?" Charlotte asked excitedly.

"Of course, Honey," Sara said. She whistled for Hank, who came running with as much fierceness as Charlotte had earlier. Charlotte squealed and hugged her Boxer pal. Hank was getting older; his muzzle was getting grayer, but he was still a wonderful and endearing companion. He was so good with Charlotte; the two were best friends.

Sara put the leash on Hank and everyone strolled outside into the warm October night. Sara and Grissom walked behind Charlotte and Greg. Both pairs were holding hands, although Charlotte was dragging Greg whereas Sara and Grissom were merely walking peacefully.

The sky was getting darker and the air was getting cooler. Sara was no fan of Las Vegas, but even she could appreciate the scenery of the mountains, lit by a fiery landscape of casinos and the cornucopia of headlights on the highways. Back in Lake Tahoe, she and Grissom abandoned their lives of fighting crime and were both teaching classes at Sierra Nevada College. It was a peaceful life they lived now; one without the constant threat of stumbling over dead bodies and nightmares so bad that Sara had been prescribed medication for it. All of that was thankfully behind them now.

"Do you miss it here?" Grissom asked her as they watched Charlotte run with ceaseless joy from house to house.

"No," she said simply. "I've never missed this place. It was always what was in Vegas that I missed when I was gone. But the city itself, no. If it weren't for you, I would have never agreed to come here."

Grissom raised an eyebrow.

"So if Professor Jackson from the Forensics Academy Conference asked you to come to Vegas, you wouldn't have said yes?"

Sara chuckled.

"You mean the guy with the bad comb over who was always looking down my shirt? No. Now, the Physics professor with the long black hair who looked like Joey Ramone, well, I'd think about it."

The two of them were quite for a moment as they thought about the conference so many years ago that first brought them together. How time flies.

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An hour later, Charlotte's pumpkin pail was full of enough Snickers and M&Ms to feed an army of hungry 4-year-olds. She reluctantly let Uncle Greg lead her back home, her parents following close behind.

When she got home, Charlotte was delighted to see her uncles Jim and Nick and Aunt Catherine waiting for her inside.

"Uncle Jim! Uncle Nick! Aunt Catherine! What are you all doing here?" She asked happily. They all took turns giving her big hugs, lifting her off the ground until she squealed with happiness.

"We're here for the party," Jim said. "We don't get to see you very often, so we thought we'd all get together."

Charlotte looked at the digital clock in the kitchen and then looked worriedly at her parents.

"I guess I can't stay up for very long," Charlotte said sadly. "Tomorrow's a school day."

Sara and Gil nodded, proud of their daughter's logical reasoning skills.

"You can stay up for a few more minutes, Baby," Sara told her. "But then it's bedtime."

Charlotte grinned. She ran over to Jim and Catherine, who were both sitting on the sofa, and jumped up on Catherine's lap.

"Whoa!" Catherine said. "Easy there, lady!"

"Aunt Catherine, tell me about Lindsey! Is she doing okay at her big girl college?"

Catherine laughed and told Charlotte about Lindsey's adventures in college. Lindsey was in her final year at UNLV, and Charlotte always loved to hear stories about her college life.

"So how's the teaching gig these days?" Nick was asking Grissom. Grissom taught, among other things, Botany at the college. He chose it mostly because botany came easy to him, but a bigger part of him chose it because he knew it would make his father proud.

"It's going well," Grissom said. "This semester, Sara is teaching Physics and Biology, so she's keeping busy. I only have 2 classes a week, so I have a lot of time to write."

"Oh, yeah? Is that book _ever_ coming out?" Nick teased. Grissom had been writing a book on serial killers he encountered as a CSI. Thinking again about the likes Natalie Davis and Paul Millander took him to a place in his thoughts that he didn't exactly enjoy, but he felt he had a story to tell. Sometimes he'd have to stop in the middle of a sentence and take a breath, especially when writing about Natalie. Not only did Natalie get the best of him, she also got the best of Sara in a much more brutal way. Every time he thought he was done with Natalie, her face would haunt him in his dreams. The book was a way to deal with the constant disturbing memories.

"Someday," Grissom said. "How's the supervisor gig? The Day shift treating you okay?"

"Oh, yeah. With Catherine supervisor on Nights, we've really got the whole department in order. Of course, we learned from the best, so it was easy."

Grissom rolled his eyes.

Greg and Sara, who had been in deep conversation about something political, joined the conversation.

Nick asked, "Greg, how was your date last night? Mandy told me she saw you putting on cologne before you left the lab so it must have been an important one."

Greg looked at his friend in dismay. Sara and Grissom chuckled.

"It was fine, I guess. We ordered chicken fajitas and she ate more than half. I only got to eat two fajitas. Isn't that sad? I think it's sad. She was nice, but we didn't have a lot in common. I didn't even get to kiss her at the end of the night."

Nick shook his head. Sara knew he was thinking how happy he was that he finally settled down with Mandy and didn't have to worry about the dating scene anymore.

"I should probably get Charlotte to bed," Sara said. "That should be fun, with all the chocolate she's had tonight."

"Good luck," Greg said. "I think you're a saint if you're able to get her to sleep."

Sara scowled at him. Grissom said, "Need help?"

"I got it, Honey. Tell Nick about that student of yours who dared suggest entomology was a useless field. I love that story."

Grissom frowned. As he started telling the story, Sara collected her daughter from Catherine's arms.

"But Mama, Catherine was telling me about the boy Lindsey is dating!" Charlotte protested.

"Sorry, Honey, it's bedtime. I'll read you a story, okay?"

"Okay," Charlotte grumbled. Sara took her hand and led her away from the party. On the way to the guest bedroom, Charlotte kissed an old photograph that Greg had sitting in a frame on his coffee table. "Good night, Uncle Warrick, wherever you are!" Charlotte said. Sara smiled sadly. Charlotte knew all about her mommy and daddy's friend Warrick and how, if he were here today, he would have loved her to pieces. Charlotte enjoyed hearing stories about Warrick. Sometimes telling her Warrick stories was the only way to get Charlotte to go to sleep. That was okay with Sara and Gil. It kept Warrick's memory alive in a way, and there wasn't anything bad about that.

After Sara helped her daughter brush her teeth and put her nightgown on, she tucked her in bed. Hank came in and jumped in with Charlotte, settling at the foot of the bed.

"Mommy, I don't want to go to bed."

"I know, but it's bedtime. I don't want to go to work all the time, but I do. Do you know why?"

"Why?" Charlotte asked impatiently.

"Because I like to go to school and teach people new things. That's my job. Just like it's your job to go to school in the morning."

"Will you teach me about physics someday?"

Sara smiled. "Of course. You're going to be the smartest kid in school. Your dad will teach you about bugs and plants, and I'll teach you about chemistry and biology and physics. It'll be lots of fun, you'll see."

"Will you teach me about boys?"

"Hmm. Maybe when you're old enough to drive."

"Mommy!"

Grissom poked his head in. "Everything okay in here?"

"Mommy won't teach me about boys," Charlotte said. "I want to know!'

Grissom looked at Sara worriedly. Sara shook her head, not sure why their 4 year old daughter was demanding to know about boys.

"When you're old enough to drive," Grissom said, "We will teach you about boys."

Charlotte pouted. Grissom sat next to Sara on the bed, and they took turns reading Miss Nelson is Missing, Charlotte's favorite book. It didn't take long for Charlotte to drift off to sleep. A few minutes later, both she and Hank were a symphony of snores.

"Our daughter," Grissom said proudly. "The snoring queen of Lake Tahoe."

Sara and Grissom grinned at each other and leaned in for a kiss. They would rejoin their friends and former colleagues eventually, but for now, with just each other and their daughter, everything was the way it was supposed to be.


End file.
